Favorite Things 2019

30/12/19 Hannibal 15

2019 was a bad year. Biblically bad with war, fire, flood, and disease, all well documented, there’s no need for me to rehash them here. Instead I’d like to end the year on a positive note. Some things I liked in 2019.

Yoga – I was disappointed when my teacher retired. But the new instructor has really challenged me. I’m proud of my fish pose with lotus legs, it’s harder than it looks!

Books – My favorite book was published in 2018. But I didn’t read it until this year so it still counts. It may be the best book I read in the entire decade. Milkman by Anna Burns https://www.amazon.com/Milkman-Novel-Anna-Burns/dp/1644450003 captures the fatigue and paranoia of growing up in ongoing trauma and still manages to be funny and entertaining. Also My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite https://www.amazon.com/My-Sister-Serial-Killer-Novel/dp/0385544235 , which in spite of the title is not a crime thriller. It’s a novel about what tears families apart and what binds them together.

Music – Brittany Howard Jaime Beautiful and personal.

TV – The End of the F**king World I loved both seasons of this road trip comedy-drama. And it has a kick ass soundtrack.

Anyway, it wasn’t all bad. What were some of the bright spots in your year?

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15 Comments

  1. Man, how do you get your head to look like that in fish pose?

    I read some great books that were not released this year, but they were either new to me or I was re-reading them because they are favorites:

    “In the Empire of Genghis Khan”

    Dude rides horses across Mongolia, explores the country as it adjusts from its recent abandonment of communism. I’ve no interest in horses or riding, but the cultural notes and history are compelling, as well as the author’s dependence on many strangers along the way.

    “No Picnic on Mount Kenya”

    This is one I re-read about every 3 years or so. An Italian WWII POW plans and enacts a daring escape — to go climb a mountain and then return to the POW camp. Just stunning. Again, I have no interest in climbing, but the story has way more appeal than just to the climbers.

    “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth”

    I grew up in Kansas, where this is set. A woman documents the poverty that runs throughout her family history, and explores how society and governments (federal, state, local) have steepened the odds against those trying to climb their way out. Just really stunning.

    • …ol’ genghis was really something, wasn’t he?

      …forget where exactly but think there was a mountain pass somewhere along the line of “the Great wall” that was supposed to be impregnable because obviously nobody could scale the sheer icy cliff behind one of the keeps & drop in without lining up nicely to be slaughtered in the pass itself…
      until a bunch of Mongols did exactly that – some barefoot, even…
      & their mounted archers were pretty much the peak of military might at the time, I believe…

      • Famously he crossed the Gobi Desert with his army to attack from an unexpected direction.

        The story that amazes me the most is Subatai’s scouting raid wandering around Europe just casually destroying entire national armies.

  2. Agree 2019 was a pretty suck year, politics alone has taken a few years off my life. Best books I read actually written in 2019 was The Hidden History of the Supreme Court by Thom Hartmann. I’m also still reading Eric Idle’s bio, Bright Side of Life which is pretty epic too but older. Had some amazing beers & wines this year & daughter got into college she wanted but other than that I’m ready for a new year!

  3. Best Gift I recieved all year: a really big telephoto lens

    Other than that I’ve always been an experiences guy, so here’s a few:
    Coolest thing I did: wandering around Iceland during the solstice taking photos in the four hour sunrise/sunset

    Scariest moment/most impressive moment: flipped a raft and had a small child almost drown me while I was trying to save him. My wife actually made the save and then walked him almost a mile on her two sprained ankles.

    Coolest event: Avs 6-Flames 2 playoff hockey. Great game.

    Best new food: Eggs in the hole, but with fried eggplant and prosciutto instead of toast.

    Biggest new scar: slid during a softball game while wearing shorts. Three times. Won the game though.

    Random inspiring moment: seeing people come together to build this and other communities.

  4. …at the risky of overdosing on cloying sentimentality…I have to admit that many of my favorite things in 2019 are/were a few thousand anonymous random internet acquaintances…many of whom are still to be found roaming the left of dead server on Discord &/or showing up here from time to time in a fashion it’d be nice to encourage…

    but SplinterRIP, DeadspinRIP & this place where we left a door or two open to the other stuff…those may have been my favorite things in a good long time…

    …so, although technically I didn’t…

  5. Agreed on “The End of the Fucking World.” Also “Peaky Blinders” and “Mindhunter.”

    My trip to Edinburgh – can you be homesick for someplace you only visited for a week? It also led in an offhand way to discovering one of my new favorite novelists, Ian Rankin.

    Lamar Jackson made watching football fun again.

    And Jack’s Abby House Lager. Lots and lots of Jack’s Abby House Lager.

    • I’ve never read Rankin,googled him. I like a good detective novel,I’ll definitely check him out. I watched the first couple seasons of Leaky Blinders and really liked it. But I can’t remember where I left off!

      • …I’m on the same canalboat with Peaky Blinders

        …& I don’t know how much of my fondness for Ian Rankin’s Rebus is bound up in being not unfamiliar with Edinburgh

        …but I’m pretty sure that isn’t a pre-requisite or anything

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